Slaying Mantis

April 6, 2016

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Article By: Randall Noldge

Photos By: Milwaukee Mike

Originally Published In The February 2012 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

There are a few life-altering moments that leave a permanent mark on your brain; something that sculpts your decisions in the future and scars your memories. For me, it was in the early nineties when I saw a deraked bike in Easyriders that looked like nothing else at the time. Growing up in St. Louis, I had occasionally seen deraked bikes around the area, but I had no idea this was a Midwestern style. They were usually piloted by a salty, patch holder and built for hard riding and lots of miles. However, this magazine spread was different. This scoot was gorgeous. The architecture of this bike was both abrasive and beautiful. I knew this was the style for me. After reading the tech sheet, l o w – T Article By: Randall Noldge Photos By: Milwaukee Mike and-behold, I discovered that the bike was built only a few miles from home at a shop called Roadworthy Cycles. I immediately headed over to the shop to see if any more of these types of bikes existed. As I entered the door, I was greeted by a surly looking crew who made it clear that if you didn’t ride, you didn’t belong. I was just a wide-eyed kid looking for pieces of art in a paint and chrome museum. I knew I was out of my element. Fast-forward 20 years and I’d ditched my Jap bike, got a couple builds under my belt, slowed down my lifestyle, and came to call Roadworthy home. It’s not my day job, but on my days off, it’s my sanctuary of parts, knowledge, and old timers who lived it. Sometimes I’ll work on my bike, sometimes on others, and sometimes, I’ll just sit on a stool and listen to greybeards tell tales of old, back when sex was safe and choppers were dangerous. This is where I find inspiration.

Last year, I came across a pair of 18 over forks on Craigslist and decided to finally build the bike that had already been b u i l t in my mind a thousand times over; a combination of style and parts that salutes the area and the chopper jockeys that came before. All of the resources were right here at my fingertips. I told Wubbzey, the owner of Roadworthy, my tale of the infamous derake that was tattooed in my mind and he darted off to the office. A few minutes later, he reappeared with a bunch of photographs of that very bike. After reminiscing a bit, he said, “Let’s get to work.” I hung the old photos up for inspiration, and three hours later, my ‘84 FX was stripped to the frame. Being 6’ 5”, I wanted my bike to match my stature. I’d heard Jason at Just Hawgs had a tall frame jig, so over we went. He strapped my old frame down in the jig and asked, “How high ya wanna go?” I knew I wanted to run clip-on bars, so risers wouldn’t pose a visibility problem. I told him, ‘Take it to the top.’ We ended up with 19” stretched up and it fits me like a glove. When Jason finished making sparks, I sent it over to Roadworthy wiz kid, Tony, for molding. We then painted the frame with a rattle can. Now we can touch it up anywhere in the country. Nothing wrong with looking good, but you gotta ride ‘em.

Meanwhile, I took an angle grinder to all the tins and powdercoated them clear. Then I hauled them over to Darren, the genius at Liquid Illusions, who applied the gold leaf, lettering, and came up with the “chocolate drizzle” pinstriping. I can’t say enough about this guy’s talent. Multi-talented Rich Phillips covered the seat and did a custom triple tree cover to crown the top. Shortly thereafter, Squatty, from Squatty’s Speed Shop in Desoto, MO. finished up the motor rebuild. Back it all came to Roadworthy for reassembly. A collection of old parts and pieces started to appear from the dark corners of the shop. My favorite is the rear wheel/sprocket /rotor assembly that came off a Dick Allen bike from back in the day. If you don’t know about him and what the did with choppers, you need to Google him kids. Wubbzey at Roadworthy said I could “borrow” that wheel for the build if I started a blog for the shop. You can check out more of the build, as well as other stuff, at www.roadworthycycles.blogspot.com